The Hindu : Kerala News : Cancel nod for hotel at Technopark: VS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 09, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Cancel nod for hotel at Technopark: VS

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 8. The Leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan, has come down heavily on the Government decision to allot space within the Technopark complex for a five star hotel project by the Taj Group and asked the Government to immediately cancel the decision to allot land for the purpose within the park area.

In a statement here today, Mr. Achuthanandan said the decision to allot land for the hotel project had been taken in gross violation of the norms governing land allotment in the park area. Even allotment of land in the park area on lease was subject to strict norms. Any person or group allotted land should start construction within a year, begin software production within two years and export at least 50 per cent of the software in two years. There was even a provision to take back the land if there was violation of any of these norms. The land in the park area had been allotted to the Taj Group in violation of all these norms and at rates applicable to software development companies, he pointed out.

The Opposition Leader said the Government decision was also surprising since steps were on to acquire more land from Attipra and other nearby areas on the plea that enough space was not available within the park area for development of IT companies. He said there were allegations that higher-ups in the ruling alliance were privy to the deal and had taken huge sums as grease money and asked the Government to immediately cancel its decision to allot land within the park to the hotel group.

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